An Analysis of the Masculinity in Pride and Prejudice【毕业论文】.doc

1、 本科毕业论文 （ 20 届） 英语 An Analysis of the Masculinity in Pride and Prejudice 外语学院学生毕业论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的毕业论文是本人在导师的认真指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的研究成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包含其他个人或集体已经发表的学术成果，也不包含为获得浙江万里学院或其它教育机构的学位证书而使用过的材料。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式表明。如本文涉及上述声明 及任何知识产权纠纷，本人将承担一切责任。 学生签名： _ 日期： _ Abstract Pride and

2、Prejudice is one of the works of Jane Austen, a famous English novelist in the 19th century. It is a story that reflects a conservative and isolated state of the town life during the period between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of 19th century. This thesis begins with the definition

3、of the masculinity. Then it introduces some information about the author and background of the story. The following part is the embodiment of the masculinity in different portraits in Pride and Prejudice. At the same time, it brings in the theory of dualism to help to dig out the masculinity in the

4、story. In addition, the heritage in the book plays an important role to help to embody the masculinity. Besides, the thesis analyzes the different kinds of marriages of the story in order to display the inevitable masculinity. All in all, Pride and Prejudice is a work which not only reflects feminis

5、m, but also the masculinity. Therefore, the readers should not be influenced by the large number of critics who always get a view of feminism in this novel. They should also take notice of the masculinity. Key Words: Pride and Prejudice masculinity dualism marriage 摘 要 傲慢与偏见是十九世纪著名女作家简奥斯汀的作品。它是一部 反映

6、18 世纪末到 19 世纪初处于保守和闭塞状态下的英国乡镇生活和世态人情 的小说。本文从男权主义的定义着手，先介绍作者和与该小说相关的一些背景知识，然后从小说中各个人物来分析男权主义在故事中的体现。同时本文还引入二元对立的思想来帮助阐述男权主义在该小说中的体现。而继承权在傲慢与偏见中表现男权也占据了很大的位置。除此之外，本文还分析了小说中非常有特色的几桩不同的婚姻，以此来表现当时社会不可避免的男权主义。总而言之，傲慢与偏见不仅仅是一本表现女性主义的著作，所以读者在欣赏该小说的时候，不要因为受到大多评判家们的影响而片面地只看到该小说表现出来的女性主义，也要注意男权主义同样也在该小说中淋漓尽致得得

7、到了表现。 关键词 : 傲慢与偏见 男权主义 二元对立 婚姻 Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Pride and Prejudice and the Masculinity .2 2.1 Pride and Prejudice.2 2.2 The Theory of the Masculinity .4 3. Analysis of the Masculinity in Different Portraits in Pride and Prejudice .4 3.1 The Evolution of Elizabeth Bennets Maturity .5 3.

8、1.1 Elizabeth and Wickham .5 3.1.2 Elizabeth and Darcy. 6 3.2 Dualism in Pride and Prejudice and the Embodiment of the Masculinity .6 3.2.1 The Theory of Dualism .7 3.2.2 The Embodiment of Dualism in Pride and Prejudice 7 3.3 Darcys Attitude towards Elizabeth .8 3.4 The Heritage Issue in Pride and P

9、rejudice .9 4. Analysis of the Masculinity of Marriages in Pride and Prejudice .9 4.1 Elizabeths Behavior towards Darcys Proposal .10 4.2 Lydias Elopement with Wickham .10 4.3 Charlotte and Mr. Collins 11 5. Conclusion 12 Works Cited. 14 Acknowledgement1 An Analysis of the Masculinity in Pride and P

10、rejudice 1 Introduction Pride and Prejudice is one of the works of Jane Austen, a famous English novelist in the 19th century. It was the period of Regency England. At that time, the class differentiation was particularly stratified and the root of it was in family connections and wealth. As for men

11、, their social status was determined by their participation in military, church, or law. And as for women, if they wanted to improve their life conditions, the only way was to marry a rich man. Only a successful marriage could bring them a happy life. According Douthat(2003), “Though young women of

12、Austens day had more freedom to choose their husbands than in the early eighteenth century, practical considerations continued to limit their options.”(p.4) Pride and Prejudice was written under such situation. Though many people consider that it is a great work which expresses the progressive idea

13、of feminism, the masculinity in the story can never be ignored. A famous English feminism critic Rosaline Coward mentions that if you put the feminist experience on the center place just because of a book, and consider that it has the interest of feminism, you will fall into a big misunderstanding.

14、(Coward, 1995, p.77) It is true that people cant be one-sided when they think over a question. It is the same when they appreciate a novel. In 1796, Jane began to create this novel and at the beginning, it was named First Impression. When she showed the story to her father, her father was deeply tou

15、ched and gave the novel to a publisher who was his friend. But in fact, the novel was refused before his friend could catch a sight on it. Later in 1809, Jane modified the novel and it was finally published in 1813. After it was published, the British literary was resounding or what is more, the nov

16、el set the world on fire. At that time, Romanticism was prevailing and the status of the British fictions declined. During the forty years after the 1970s, there were few works which could brighten up peoples eyes. Almost all of the fictions belonged to Gothic fiction or 2 Sentimental novel. However

17、, Pride and Prejudice created a new kind of style in literature. The story is based on daily life; the style is witty and the language is humorous. It is a work full of comical flavor and arouses readers new feelings. But how can masculinity be embodied in the novel? What is the relationship between

18、 Pride and Prejudice and the masculinity? The thesis will give readers detailed illustration. This thesis can be devided into five parts. Part one is the introduction of Price and Prejudice and its background. Part two is to introduce the story and the theory of masculinity. Part three is to analyze

19、 the masculinity which is embodied in different portraits in the novel. Part four is the analysis of the masculinity of marriages in the story. The final part is the conclusion of the whole thesis, restating the masculinity in Pride and Prejudice. 2 Pride and Prejudice and the Masculinity When Pride

20、 and Prejudice is mentioned, the first impression readers have is always the romantic love in the story, the handsome Darcy Fitzwilliam and beautiful Elizabeth Bennet, as well as Darcys pride and Elizabeths prejudice. Some inquirers looked deeply into the novel and then digged out feminism. It broug

21、ht readers into a new wave of feminism because it was under a patriarchal social system. This kind of work must have shocked readers a lot. However the masculinity is also a dominant factor in the story. 2.1 Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice， the most popular one of Jane Austens masterpieces，a

22、ttracts generations of readers from all over the world by its dramatic plots， witty dialogues and humorous characters. (Pang Xiaopeng, 2006, p.12) Pride and Prejudice is a story that reflects a conservative and isolated state of town life during the period between the end of 18th century and the beg

23、inning of 19th century. It has no powerful momentum or tortuous plots, but simple meticulous description. Readers are familiar with the scenes in common life which make readers feel cozy 3 from the simplicity. All the plots, characters and languages show readers a style of comedy. So what is the sto

24、ry about? In short, it has two main lines: they are the love stories between Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy Fitzwilliam, Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley. In 2000, BBC held an activity to choose the most great and popular writers during thousands of years. As a result, Jane Austen was the second who just

25、 fell behind Shakespeare and became the only female writer on the rank of top ten. She was the pride of Britain and pushed the realism novel to the climax in the 1830s. Pride and Prejudice is her representative work. It has been awarded one of the ten scriptures in the world by W.S.Maugham-a famous

26、novelist and dramatist of Britain. Jane was born in Hampshire in South England in 1775 and died in 1817. She had never attended any formal school, but been sent to her sister s school to accompany at the age of nine. She received education from her father, and also she studied from reading lots of b

27、ooks by herself. James is her nephew and the impression on him is like this. I was young when we lost her; but the impressions made on the young are deep, and though in the course of fifty years I have forgotten much, I have not forgotten that Aunt Jane was the delight of all her nephews and nieces.

28、 (James, 2002, p.1) So she is also a woman who has won the love of children. She began to create the story, drama and short-short story when she was 12. She had created six novels in her life and lots of the materials were based on daily life, which was the most obvious feature in her works. Also, s

29、he liked to describe womens love story and the love was based on money in most situations. “Women have a dreadful propensity for being poor-which is one very strong argument in favour of Matrimony.” (Lefroy, 2002, p.164) It is clear that in Janes opinion, marrying a wealthy man is the only way for a

30、 woman to get felicity. It is also the real social state at that time. The husband which mother chooses for daughter is not the man who does well in psychology or morality, but in his wealth. (Glisonbaum, 1985, p.175) From this 4 aspect, people can directly or indirectly see that the writer herself

31、lived under the patriarchal social system, in which she was influenced by the masculinity to some degree. 2.2 The Theory of the Masculinity “In the 18th century, being engaged in writing is not suitable for the status of woman.” (Maugham, 1987, p.82) Even the novel as literature was disdained by peo

32、ple at that time. Monk Louis has written, “I detest, sympathize, despise all of the female literatus, the tool they should use is the needle, but not the pen. They can only use the needle skillful.” (qtd.in Maugham, 1987, p.82) So Jane was careful and discreet when she was writing the novel. She alw

33、ays wrote on some little paper so that she could put it away easily. What is more, she liked to close the door which would make noise when others pushed it. Though she had the courage to make the society admit female and strove for respect, it was inevitable that she would be influenced by the mascu

34、linity when she created Pride and Prejudice. Masculinity, in other words, is the patriarchal system, in which the father was the head of the family and the descent was traced through the fathers side of the family. “Masculinity is at once everywhere and yet nowhere, known and yet unknowable, had and

35、 yet un-have-able.” (Edwards, 2006, p.1) Women should confirm the value of men and place them on the center. Male is superior to female. When writers create the opposite sex in a work, they always imagine themselves as the opposite sex to achieve the imagination of sex-transform. (Feng Yan, 2010, p.

36、41) Therefore, Jane as a female writer will stand on the position of male to continue her work. She will definitely be influenced by the masculinity. 3 Analysis of the Masculinity in Different Portraits in Pride and Prejudice Pride and prejudice is the representative work of Jane Austen. As readers

37、all know, she likes to describe the love stories between gentry and ladies. Her exquisite description, humorous writing style and facetious taunt make the novel very popular. 5 At the same time, a group of vivid characters appear to help her express dissatisfaction to the society. And the dissatisfa

38、ction is just the reflection of the existence of the masculinity. 3.1 The Evolution of Elizabeth Bennets Maturity A large number of readers think that Elizabeth Bennet is a woman who is clever, brave, far-sighted. She is defined as a lady who has very strong self-respect and is good at deliberating.

39、 It is certainly true and is scarce for women at that era. But everyone has shortcomings, and they are all converted from immature, so is Elizabeth. “Elizabeths prejudice comes from her pride. Her confidence of her discernment and her critical view finally lead to her prejudice. This prejudice cause

40、s her blindness when she judges Wickhams and Darcys characters.” (Zhang, Shi but not handsome enough to tempt me” (Austen, 2008, p.13) Later, the soldiers come to the town which is near their village. There is a handsome man in the troop whose name is George Wickham. People praise him because of his

41、 good looks. But in fact, he is a cheater. At that time, Elizabeth meets him and is attracted by his gentle manners. One time, Wickham deceives Elizabeth and tells her that Darcy is scoundrel and wants to take possession of his property. Darcys father leaves the property to him because his father ha

42、s been the butler for Darcys family. So Elizabeth believes the statement of only one of the parties and deepens her misunderstanding on Darcy. It proves that women are easy to be cheated, including the clever one like Elizabeth. It is the reflection of the masculinity that men are brighter than women. What is more, during the time Elizabeth is tempted by Wickham, she has sighed that they are not matched for